FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 97-112
SEC TO CONSIDER FOUR ITEMS AT AN OPEN MEETING
Washington, D.C., December 17, 1997 -- The Securities
and Exchange Commission will consider four items at an open
meeting conducted under the Government in the Sunshine Act
on December 17, at 10:00 a.m. The meeting will be held in
Room 1C30, at the Commission's headquarters building, 450
Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. The items for
discussion are:
- whether to propose Rules 3a12-12, 3a12-13, 3b-
12, 3b-13, 3b-14, 3b-15, 3b-16, 15b9-2, 15c1-9,
15c3-4, and 17a-5A under the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) and amendments to
Exchange Act Rules 8c-1, 15b1-1, 15c2-1, 15c3-1,
15c3-3, 17a-3, 17a-4, 17a-11, and Form X-17A-5
(FOCUS report). The proposed rules and rule
amendments would tailor capital, margin, and other
broker-dealer regulatory requirements to a class
of registered dealers, called OTC derivatives
dealers, active in OTC derivatives markets.
Registration as an OTC derivatives dealer would be
alternative to registration as a fully regulated
broker-dealer, and would be available only to
entities acting primarily as counterparties in
privately negotiated OTC derivatives transactions.
- whether to issue a concept release seeking
comment on alternatives to the current method of
calculating net capital requirements pursuant to
Rule 15c3-1 under the Exchange Act for broker-
dealers, including whether statistical models
should be used to calculate net capital
requirements. As part of its study, the
Commission it considering the extent to which
statistical models should be used in setting the
capital requirements for a broker-dealer.
Accordingly, the Commission is posing a number of
questions on this subject as well as soliciting
views on other possible alternatives for
establishing net capital requirements.
- whether to propose amendments to Rule 15c3-1
under the Exchange Act regarding net capital
requirements for broker-dealers. When calculating
the value of their assets for net capital
purposes, broker-dealers must reduce the market
value of the securities they own by certain
percentages, or haircuts. The rule amendments
would alter the haircuts taken by broker-dealers,
for certain interest rate instruments, including:
government securities; investment grade
nonconvertible debt securities; certain mortgage-
backed securities; money market instruments; and
debt-related derivatives instruments.
- whether to propose amendments to Rule 15c3-1
to define the term "nationally recognized
statistical rating organization" (NRSRO). The
proposed definition sets forth a list of
attributes to be considered by the Commission in
designating rating organizations as NRSROs and the
process for applying for NRSRO designation.
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